FORMATION OF RETURNED SOLDIERS LEAGUES
Already by
1915 invalid returning soldiers from World War 1 were forming associations and
gathering in clubhouses to discuss their health problems and concerns about the
lack of coordinated repatriation facilities and tailored medical services.
In May 1916
representatives of those associations met in Sydney and then Melbourne to
address the need for a unified approach to these concerns. A constitution was
formulated and the provisional name the Returned Soldiers and Sailors
Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA) was decided upon.
At the first
Federal Congress held in Brisbane in September 1916 the RSSILA was formally
constituted and name adopted.
In November 1940 the name was changed to
include airmen: Returned Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen’s Imperial League of
Australia (RSSAILA).
In October
1965 the name was condensed to Returned Services League of Australia.
Then in
September 1990 another name change was made to cater for a wider membership as,
with the passing of time, an exclusive membership of returned servicemen and
women could no longer be sustained. Today the organization is known as the Returned
& Services League of Australia.
FIRST
MOVES TO BUILD A MEMORIAL HALL - 1920
Already, in
Ingham, returned soldiers had formed themselves into what may have been an
unofficial branch of the RSSILA as it wasn’t until 1924 that the North
Queensland District of the RSSILA was established. In January 1920 the group
held a dance to raise money for a soldiers’ ‘rest room’ in Ingham. The first
ANZAC DAY dinner was held at the Masonic Hall on Palm Terrance in Ingham in
1920. After the opening of the Shire
Hall on 18 March 1921 the Honour Roll was housed in the Shire Hall and ANZAC
Day ceremonies were conducted outside that building.
A committee was
formed of three returned soldiers (Messrs G. Groundwater, E. Billam and C.
Renouf) and three civilians (Messrs F. Cassady, G. Cantamessa and G.G.
Venables) for the aim of raising funds for a Memorial Hall. A two storied brick
and concrete building was envisaged whose entrance would house the honour
board. The building would include a meeting room, shops and offices for rent in
order to provide revenue to assist paying off the building and for running
expenses.
The committee
investigated the possibility of obtaining a vacant allotment (originally where
the postmaster’s residence had stood) in Lannercost Street between the Post
Office and the Police Sergeant’s residence. It was anticipated that between
£2000 and £3000 would be required to build the Memorial Hall. Already on the
occasion of the visit of the Italian Consul, Count di San Marzano to Ingham in
1929 when the Italian Returned Soldiers’ Association contributed £35 to the
construction of a Memorial Hall, £1000 had been raised.
FORMATION
OF THE INGHAM SUB BRANCH OF THE TOWNSVILLE RSSILA - 1933
Perhaps
spurred on by Halifax which had unveiled a concrete obelisk as a war memorial on
ANZAC DAY 1933 and the remark on that occasion that Ingham “was still without
anything of the sort” a large number of returned soldiers met in Ingham in June
1933 to discuss the formation of a branch of the RSSILA and the building of a
Memorial Hall to commemorate the fallen of World War 1and to provide a meeting
place for returned service men of which there were at least 120 returned
soldiers living in the district.
The
President and Secretary of the Townsville branch of the RSSILA addressed the
meeting and suggested that a sub branch of the Townsville branch be formed. As
a result of this meeting a Herbert River sub branch committee (herewith
referred to as the Sub Branch) was constituted.
LITTLE
PROGRESS ON MEMORIAL HALL IN THE 1930s
However, the
acquisition of a block of land for a Memorial Hall did not go smoothly. The
Lannercost Street site was vetoed in September 1933 by the Lands Department because
a piece of land on Townsville Road had already been allotted for that purpose. When
the returned soldiers had applied for the Townsville Road land in the early 1920s
the Lannercost Street block was not up for application. The 1927 flood saw the
Townsville Road allotment go many feet under water which proved its
unsuitability for the location of the Memorial Hall, hence the Sub Branch
preferring a main street location.
After another
unsuccessful bid to secure any of the town allotments that went up for lease in
early 1934, the Lands Department agreed that the Council could excise a portion
of the Shire Hall land for the use of
the Sub Branch on the proviso that it agreed that the land would revert back to
the Council when and if the returned soldiers no longer had any use for the
land.
In 1935,
tenders were called for the building of the hall with shops on the land
adjacent to the Shire Hall but not before another block of land that came up
for lease opposite the Court House on Palm Terrace was considered but rejected.
But by 1936 even the idea of building near the Shire Hall had faltered.
Though fund
raising by the Memorial Hall committee continued the momentum faltered.
VINCENT EDWARD
HAY SWAYNE, SOLICITOR OFFERS 4 HAWKINS STREET
A new
two-storied brick and concrete building never eventuated. Just before the outbreak
of World War 2, which ironically would see a member of the founding Memorial
Hall Committee Giuseppe Cantamessa interned as an enemy alien. Vincent E. Swayne,
solicitor, and his wife Helen (nee Fraser) offered their home to the Memorial
Hall committee. The house was a typical Queenslander style and incorporated a
tennis court as many houses then did. Because Swayne had named his property
Kentucky, the court was called the Kentucky Court. Swayne and his family
were avid tennis players and visiting teams from north and south of Ingham
would travel to compete on this court. On one occasion there were 150 spectators
watching the hotly contested matches.
The building
was acquired for £1750 payable on terms. However, Swayne suggested that he
donate £250 towards the furnishing fund if the Sub Branch would pay £1500 outright
in cash. The Sub Branch secured a £500 overdraft, and the deal was completed.
The Diggers’ Hack Club transferred £117 to the Sub Branch to help pay off the
bank overdraft. The furnishing of the ‘Diggers’ Club Rooms’ and alterations
required to convert the former home to a club house would be achieved with the
donations already received which amounted to £370 and a piano donated by Swayne
in addition to the agreed upon £250.
The Sub Branch
took possession of the house a few days before it held its first annual general
meeting in its new clubhouse at 4 Hawkins Street on Sunday 6 February 1938.
The original Swayne house continued to be renovated for the growing and changing needs of the RSL. Renovations to the club house occurred in the early 1970s, 1999 and 2010. The clubhouse hosted North Queensland District Congresses in 1948, 1957, 1983,1995 and 2011.
 |
| Kentucky Tennis Court (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Library Photograph Collection) |
SOURCES:
A Short
History of the beginnings of the RSL, http://www.rslangeles.com/history-of-the-rsl/
Herbert
River Sub Branch Inc. https://www.rslqld.org/about-us/herbert-river-sub-branch-inc
TROVE –
newspapers 1929-1959
Vidonja
Balanzategui, The Herbert River Story, Ingham: Hinchinbrook Shire
Council, 2011.
